As bassist, Mellotron-wrangler and ringleader of multinational ensemble Big Big Train, Gregory Spawton has steered the band through some of the most stirring, thoughtfully textured moments in contemporary progressive rock. In February, they released Woodcut, a conceptual epic that reflects their love of classy pop as much as clever arrangements and old-school prog.
“I’ve tried to minimise the amount of Genesis in there,” he says of his Soundtrack choices, grinning. “But it does crop up.”
The first music I remember hearing
Puff, The Magic Dragon. Maybe a year ago I went back and looked at the lyrics. It’s actually a really sad song. It’s deeper and darker than I remember it being as a five-year-old. A lot of my songs are a little poignant at times; probably that element that I’m drawn to, you could see from those early tunes I remember.
The first song I performed live
Me and a mate were commissioned to play at an eighteenth birthday party, and we played our own stuff rather than covers. The first track that I remember playing was called Arrow, and it was terrible. We must have cleared the room at this party.
The greatest album of all time
Selling England By The Pound by Genesis. I think it includes two of the greatest prog rock songs of all time, Firth Of Fifth and The Cinema Show, but it’s also got some other stuff that’s interesting, and a single like I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe). It covers the gamut of prog rock from A to Z. I heard it in 1976 when I was eleven, and I still love it.
The guitar hero
Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips. They originated that twelve-string thing with two twelve-strings [in Genesis]. It’s a huge influence on me. But as a lead guitarist I’d say Jeff Beck. He could do something with the voice of the guitar that I don’t think anyone else has got close to.
The singer
Peter Hammill. He can go from a whisper to a kind of raging storm. He can still do it now in his seventies. I still think the masterpiece is [Van der Graaf Generator’s] Pawn Hearts.
The songwriter
Justin Currie from Del Amitri. I think he is a genius. He’s the master of the middle eight. A lot of modern songwriting frustrates me because they often don’t bother with the middle eight, but he delivers time and again. And if you want to know how men think, read his lyrics. It’s not always nice, but it’s real.
The best cover version
On Top of the Pops in the seventies, the theme music was Whole Lotta Love, but it was a cover of the Led Zeppelin track, by a band called CCS. I think the BBC orchestra were involved as well, so it’s kind of arranged for a big band.
The best record I've made
I’m going to sound like a PR wanker here, but I think Woodcut is up there. The fans always go with The Underfall Yard. It’s not my favourite.
The worst record I've made
We made a lockdown album called Welcome To The Planet. We had nothing else to do, really, and we were under pressure to do something because our tours were being cancelled. I quite like a lot of the songs on there, but Big Big Train has always done quite thematic albums, with things flowing into each other, and I think we missed that on that album.
Favourite concept album
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway [Genesis], and me and Rikard [Sjöblom, BBT guitarist] both love Tales Of Topographic Oceans [Yes], which is the kind of album that gave prog a bad name. Those two classic seventies concept albums for me are still really interesting, beautiful pieces of work.
The most underrated band ever
Prefab Sprout. They should have been the biggest band on the planet. Paddy McAloon is a songwriter of extraordinary ability. The record to check out is Jordan.
My guilty pleasure
Dreadlock Holiday by 10cc, our tour-bus guilty pleasure. Lyrically it’s probably a bit dodgy now. I think it’s a song of its time, but it’s a clever bit of songwriting.
My Saturday night party song
Disco Inferno [The Trammps]. It’s absolutely brilliant. There’s a lovely moment in the seventies when there was almost a crossover between disco and prog – they were using the same synthesisers and stuff like that. We’re gonna cover it one day.
The song that makes me cry
Del Amitri again. There’s a song Justin Currie wrote called Sleep Instead Of Teardrops. I think his partner’s dad had died, and he was an observer of her grief. I can hardly even think about it without welling up.
The song I want played at my funeral
It’s going to be a lock-in, and they’re going to play Genesis’s Supper’s Ready – the whole twenty-three minutes of it. So one’s allowed to leave until we get to ‘the New Jerusalem’. That would make me smile, that they couldn’t go.
Woodcut is out now via InsideOut. Big Big Train tour the UK and Europe in September and October.
